The first trailer for the Notorious B.I.G. documentary Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell is finally out. The Netflix release is four years in the making, and it’s the first film about the famous rapper to get approved by his estate. His mother Voletta Wallace and collaborator Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs both helped produce the movie and participated in exclusive interviews. It was first announced in 2017, though the title was then Once More Chance.
Biggie was No. 17 on our list of the 35 most influential artists countdown last year. His’s 1994 debut, Ready To Die, had a seismic impact, giving New York a renewed foothold on mainstream hip-hop after the genre’s center of gravity had shifted to the west coast — the only Billboard #1 rap albums in 1993 were by Snoop Doggy Dogg and Cypress Hill. But Puff Daddy’s shamelessly commercial aesthetic (and the charm of the non-album “One More Chance” remix) belie just what a harrowing listen most of the album is, from an MC who had one of the era’s darkest imaginations outside of Scarface. Like Scorsese movies, Biggie’s albums are consumed with mortality and the consequences of violence and crime, often far more than the audience realized or the countless imitators grasped.
The documentary will hit Netflix on March 1. Watch the trailer below.
